BINONDO: 15 Places to Try on your Next Binondo Food Crawl!

Every year the streets of Binondo Chinatown become busy as the Chinese New Year approaches. Binondo having its own character will give you an experience of a different culture, full of colorfulness, different smells, and rich history while walking on its chaotic streets.

What's more, exciting than bargain shopping at Chinatown is experiencing its gastronomic landscape!

This food crawl isn't about your typical meal at President's, or go to dumpling shop at Ying Ying and Wai Ying, nor your favorite fast food chain like Tasty. We curated this food walk searching for your money's worth yummy mid-range eateries and family owned businesses that are celebrated in Binondo.

Where to park in Binondo?Wait for mall hours (10:00 am to 10:00 pm) and Park at Lucky Chinatown Mall. For our whole day food trip, we paid about P150 for parking.

You can also park in the empty parking lot (with no name) located on the right side of the street of Binondo Church (coming from Jones Bridge).

1. Dong Bei Dumplings

Our first stop is our favorite dumpling shop. The owner is a Chinese mainlander that came to the Philippines.

They serve northern style dumplings made fresh daily and rolled in front of you eyes.

Kuchay Pork Dumpling (P120)

We recommend you order their kuchay (leek) pork dumplings. We love that they are made fresh, you can definitely differentiate a fresh one from a long-frozen one.

Dip it in their vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic sauce. If you want a little kick don't be afraid to add chili oil.

Chinese Pancake (P120)

We also ordered the Chinese pancake, stuffed with kuchay and minced pork cut into quarters.

For us, the dumpling and pancake have the same flavor. I'm not so much of a fan of fried food, so I would opt you order the dumplings instead.

We weren't a fan of their xiao long bao though, the wrapper was just too thick for us.

We got a busy table at Café Mezzanine. We ordered the kiampong, a fried rice invented by the Filipino-Chinese of Binondo. It's usually made with sticky rice, mushrooms and soy sauce giving it that earthy flavor.

Lechon Kawali (P99)

Ours was served plain with a few chunks of pork, kind of like adobo fried rice. It goes perfectly well with the lechon kawali or goyong (Chinese sausage).

Part of the revenue goes to helping the fire volunteers. It feels nice to enjoy a delicious meal that's helping a cause.

Hopia (P45). If you're looking for that old fashioned hopia taste look no further than Holand Hopia.

Hopia is a popular bean filled pastry that originated from Fujianese immigrants. The most popular variety is the flaky hopiang mongo made from mung bean paste. We this brand because it's not too sweet, unlike other brands.

Sincerity is one of our favorite stops in Binondo. The restaurant is by far clean and homey serving yummy Amoy cuisines. It's one of the locals go to place when it comes to Fried Chicken.

We recommend you order their famed Sincerity's Fried Chicken. Tender and juicy meat on the inside with a crunchy skin that's hinted with oriental spice.

Kikiam (P55/piece).

Another best-seller is their kikiam, pair it with their brown sauce for more flavor. The typical kikiam is sold along with fishballs in street carts dipped in brown sauce or vinegar.

The traditional ones originated from a Chinese delicacy called Ngo Hiang. It is made with ground pork, vegetable and bean curd wrapper deep-fried until golden brown.

Oyster Cake (P200/small, P250/big).

Fried pancake style with egg, rice flour, bean sprouts, assorted vegetable, and medium size juicy oysters. Don't forget to dip it in ketchup or hot sauce or mix the two sauces together. Some may not like its foreign taste, but who knows you'll end up loving it.

For the adventurous type order their frog legs. They also have the 8 treasure machang packed with eight ingredients: dried scallops, chicken, pork, dried shrimp, abalone, Chinese sausage, peanuts, and chestnuts.

We liked their sisig made from gluten, mayonnaise, and chili. You might like it so much that you'll prefer eating this over the pork sisig. The set meal (P80) comes with two choices of topping and rice.

Chicken Pie (P40). Take home some of their yummy chicken pie filled with cream, mushroom, and chicken.

DEC or Diao Eng Chay isn't just a place for hopia and other pastries. They offer a variety of take-home meals like dumplings, siomai, chicken pies and lumpia. Order the lumpia made of shredded beancurd, cabbage, green beans, carrots and shrimp.

Masuki once known as Ma Kong Mami started it's Mami business in the 1930's. To get the best of both worlds order the chicken and beef mami. Add in some chives and their secret special sauce that practically goes well with most of their selections (siopao, siomai, mami).

The noodles are very bouncy because they use bamboo kneading technique to make them.

Also order their huge siomai (pork dumpling). It's a tad sweet and pair it with calamansi and their specialty sauce.

Siopao is a popular go-to snack in the Philippines. There are two popular variants pork asado and bola-bola. The fried siopao sold in the streets are steamed first, and then lightly pan-fried on the bottom.

Thank you instructor Arnold Buenviaje and the students of the Philippine Mingsheng Wenyang Sports Association for showing as a sample of the lion and dragon dance performances to expect during the Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year of the Fire Monkey to everyone! Kung Hei Fat Choy!

About me

Multimedia Artist/Blogger/Vlogger/CrossFit Athlete. Hey its me, Abi! Also known as "Abeast" because of my competitive and crazy personality. My special talents include binge watching, lifting weights, jumping off cliffs, swimming with the whale sharks, eating exotic nasty insects and having a huge appetite like a guy. One fun fact about me is that I'm the first full-time employee of Our Awesome Planet. I've been blogging for 4 years, and currently in the process of becoming a vlogger. My natural habitat is either at the CF box, a new resto, traveling or spending time with family.

guys you missed out big time on the estero restos down ongpin bridge,where you point to certain raw items and they cook it for you.wether be it veggies,seafood,meat or noodles,or combinations….for a reasonable price…..